Hay Shed with water for the horses

[FL_Cracker]

I needed a nice hay shed for the horses during the winter to hold round bales. I also need some water in our north pasture but I had no water lines anywhere near this area. So I designed this project to let mother nature help with the problem.

First we framed up a basic flat roof shed. Then I just added a gutter and down spout to help collect the water. To keep is not so muddy around the water tank I added a drain pipe to release the water 6-8' away in a area covered in grass.

 

[FL_Cracker]

Becasuse I wanted it to be accessable from both sides of the fence and I also wanted to be able to load the round bales with my tractor from the raod I lined the one side up with the fence and cut out that section of fence.

 

[FL_Cracker]

The framing was rather simple. It went fast but holds up nice and doesn't cost a lot. I used the old tin off our barn project as we were removing the green tin from the small barn and changing it to red. We wanted green out in the pasture so this shed would not show up so much.

 

[FL_Cracker]

Next I set my water tank and added gutter to the lower side. The drain pipe just keeps the water from over flowing the tank sides and making it a muddy mess. This will keep the water from washing out under the tank.

 

[FL_Cracker]

I wanted to keep the hay off the ground and have a way to load the ring outside the shed. I took some PT lumber and built me a large pallet the size of a round bale. Now I just forklift the pallet out with the ring in place, then remove the ring, set the bale, put the ring back on & forklift the whole thing back into the shed. No hay gets wasted this way.

 

[FL_Cracker]

Next I rebuilt the fence on a angle to get it close the the hay ring. Just so the horses would not go through but I let if just enough I could squeeze through.

 

[FL_Cracker]

Finsihed product..... Works great. Just chaned the first bale and all is perfect.

 

[PhilNH5]

Looks good. And pretty ingenious on the water collection. Do you get enough rain to supply your livestock needs?

Phil

 

[FL_Cracker]

Yes, most of the time. I have to watch the dry times. During a dry stretch I just move them to the pasture with the spring fed pond.

Charles

 

[JoeR]

Great design! I need to do that too. Now I have some ideas.

Thanks for sharing.

Joe